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Ask Pastor John

Satan, the ‘Prince of the Air’ — What Does That Mean?

Ask Pastor John

Desiring God

John Piper, Unknown, 163859, Pastor, Ask, Theology, Desiring God, Religion & Spirituality/christianity, Christianity, Religion & Spirituality, Questions

4.83.8K Ratings

🗓️ 3 June 2024

⏱️ 14 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Why does Paul call Satan “the prince of the power of the air”? Pastor John explores the extent of Satan’s authority and Christ’s decisive victory.

Transcript

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0:00.0

Welcome back to the podcast as we begin this June together.

0:07.0

Pastor John today in our Bible reading we arrive at Ephesians 2 verses 1 to 10.

0:12.0

It's an incredibly important text and one that you've

0:16.6

mentioned in your works over 1400 times over the decades. It is a mega text in your legacy I would call it, one that you could talk

0:25.3

about for hours and hours on end, but it includes a curious little line that you

0:30.3

rarely ever talk about, especially compared to the other glorious points that Paul makes here in this text.

0:35.0

And I'm thinking about that singular title that he gives to the devil.

0:40.0

That the devil is the prince of the power of the air in verse two.

0:46.8

All sorts of interpretations have been suggested for this over the decades.

0:50.3

Historically back in the 1920s and 30s as gospel programming was first introduced to

0:54.7

broadcast radio for the first time.

0:57.7

One critique said that any attempt to preach over the airways was doomed to fail because such

1:02.0

a ministry, quote, operates in the very realm in which

1:06.6

Satan is supreme, is he not the prince of the power of the air? So there was like a cosmological dimension to his reign.

1:16.4

That argument is basically dead today, but questions still remain.

1:19.7

APJ listeners want to know what that means that Satan is the power of the air.

1:25.0

One of our listeners named Emon wants to know if this implies that Satan is

1:29.2

omnipresent or all-seeing.

1:32.3

Other listeners want to know how Satan influences the air and how it is that his reign as the prince of the power of the air leads him to coerce disobedience from sinners, as Paul implies here in the broader context of

1:46.0

Ephesians 2, 1, 2, 3. What kind of power, Pastor John, is Paul ascribing to the devil

1:52.4

in this verse?

1:54.0

Well, first, let me suggest a principle of interpretation

...

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